Just out of college with no job and no useful connections, Ashwyn Fleetwood's not far off from having to move back in with her oppressive mother. When she finds out that Elizabeth Jonathen Butler--the most renowned businesswoman and inventor alive--is hiring an assistant, she jumps at the chance to interview. But E.J. Butler is more than Ash ever could have expected or imagined. More brilliant. More beautiful. More than human. From the day of the interview forward, Ashwyn's irrevocably locked in E.J's increasingly perilous orbit. And the deeper in love she falls, the clearer it becomes that to survive in her love's monstrous world, she will have to become more than human herself. (I will be making major edits to every chapter of this story in the near future. This will involve totally replacing the content of all existing chapters here and on Inkitt as well as resubmitting the stories entirely to Scribblehub and RoyalRoad. If you're reading this story anywhere other than Wattpad, Inkitt, Scribblehub or Royal Road, you're reading a pirated version.) Cw: contains sexual situations, strong language and violence

[Wattpad's Summer Reading Checklist 2022 Pick] "'Hella heavy' is your response to seeing me with a literal fish tail?" "Sorry. Should ... should it be something else? Wait, does this mean that you can't eat sushi?" * * * * * When Alyssa shows up in Hulhazy Front a week after wiping the memory of her partner, she's terrified of ruining everything again. Her brother and dad are convinced she'll be okay as soon as she's able to "move on", which makes no sense to her, because they sound like the exact same thing. Alyssa doesn't care about moving on--she just cares about hiding the fact that she's a mermaid from this new small town, and especially her new coworker, Elliot. Elliot has spent the past year trying to figure out how to be out. It seems that every time she finds some kind of balance, something has to happen. Her parents say something homophobic before she's about to confess her "big secret," or her old friends from the swim team make some jab about all the things they're convinced Elliot did sophomore year. She's planning on her summer consisting of working at the public pool, hiding her sexuality, and third-wheeling it up with her best friends, Neema and Duncan. Until, of course, she meets Alyssa. *cover created using graphics from freepik*